Our Denomination
Our congregation is part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA). The easiest way to say what we believe is to unpack the words Christian and Reformed.
To say we are Christian, unites us with brothers and sisters around the world who share the same core beliefs in Jesus Christ. Among these beliefs are:
The Bible, in the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God, given to people so we may know God and his Truth.
Through the Bible, God reveals himself in the Trinity. There is one God, who is Father, who is Jesus the Son, and who is the Holy Spirit
The heart of our faith is the Gospel, and the heart of the Gospel is Jesus and the cross. Jesus died on the cross so that we may be forgiven and experience true and abundant life, in this world and the next.
To learn more about the core beliefs of Christianity, please read the three creeds. These creeds are called “ecumenical” because all Christians hold them as true reflections of the teaching of scripture.
To say we are Reformed places us in the branch of the church shaped by the teachings of the Reformation, more specifically, the branches of the Reformation shaped by the Calvinist tradition. To be Reformed means we place high value on the core teachings of the Christian faith such as the authority of Scripture and the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Reformed emphasis of these teachings may be expressed by words such as:
- Grace: We can’t reach out for God until he first reaches out to us. The Spirit calls us to respond to grace by belonging to God through faith.
- Covenant: God is working to build a community of salvation that spans generations. From Abraham on, he has been making promises to his people and keeping them all in Christ. Through grace and faith, we belong to God.
- Kingdom: God is not just saving souls. He is doing that of course, but he is also renewing all creation. The Kingdom of heaven is like the mustard seed in the parable which starts small and grows. His covenant community, the Church, is now at the center of this work, but when Christ returns, all things will be made new.
- Holy Spirit: We emphasize that God’s work of building and growing the Kingdom is first and foremost the work of the Holy Spirit in and through God’s people.
To learn more about the Reformed tradition we are part of, please read the three historical statements of faith that we adhere to. These articulate well our Reformed understanding of the teaching of Scripture.
There are two more recent confessional statements that we have adopted as faithful to scripture and useful for worship and teaching. They are:
- Our World Belongs to God: A contemporary testimony
- The Belhar Confession
To learn more about our denominations teaching of various social issues and position statements, please follow this link. CRCNA